Identity Documents
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17 CHAPTER V Identity Documents Carrying identification that reflects your genuine, real-world All this needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis between a self is basic—whether you’re transgender or not. That’s what trans person and their doctor. IDs are for. So imagine if every time you tried to travel, open a These facts are beginning to influence ID policy. WPATH bank account or start a new job, someone harassed you about urged in 2010 that governments and other bodies “move to your ID. Is it fake? Are you pretending to be someone you’re eliminate requirements for identity recognition that require not? surgical procedures.” Indeed, every single U.S. federal agency When a transgender person’s ID is called into question, with the exception of the Department of Defense (as of August whether on suspicion of lying or out of an inappropriate 2014) has changed its policy to be in sync with the medical interest in finding out whether they’ve had surgery, it amounts community’s standards for transition. About half the states are to harassment and discrimination and, in many cases, a modernizing their birth certificate and driver’s license policies. violation of privacy. Forty percent of National Transgender This fact sheet is intended to answer questions about Discrimination Survey1 participants who presented ID that changing the gender marker or name on your identification didn’t match their gender presentation were harassed, 15% were and to bring you up to date about some of the work advocates asked to leave an establishment and 3% were assaulted. are doing to help transgender people obtain accurate identity There is no set medical formula for transitioning. The documents that will make their lives easier. Standards of Care established by the World Professional Associ- ation for Transgender Health (WPATH) state that for some, transition involves simply living in accordance with one’s gender identity, while for others there may be medical interventions required such as hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery. 1. See National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality’s Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, available at www.endtransdiscrimination.org/report.html MY STORY OLD DRIVER’S LICENSE, NEW STATE ANAND KALRA “Before I had any documentation that matched my public presentation and my gender identity, it was uncomfortable and could be scary—and it was a disincentive to apply for certain types of jobs. But then in California I was able to get a driver’s license with a new name and gender. “There was definitely a psychological affirmation that yes, this is who I am, this is what I look like, and I feel comfortable passing this around with friends. Whenever anyone says, ‘Let me see your driver’s license picture,’ I feel good doing that. “I live in Michigan now, and so far I’ve been very lucky because the places I have gotten work have already had gender identity as a protected class in the non-discrimination policies. “But I can’t go in and get my Michigan driver’s license by taking my California license and my passport or my social security card to the secretary of state’s office. The laws here are different, so I would have to go and get my name officially changed and get my gender marker changed on my social security account. There’s the financial barrier there, and then just the bureaucracy of it is enough to make me want to throw my hands up in the air.” www.lambdalegal.org TRANSGENDER RIGHTS TOOLKIT 18 IDENTITY DOCUMENTS FAQ Answers to Common Questions about Identity Documents Q: Do I need gender-affirming surgery requirements completely for those applying ID CASE LAW to change the gender marker on my to change a birth certificate. Tennessee is IDENTITY DOCUMENTS ID? the only state that has a statute specifi- SHOULD SHOW “LIVED A: Many agencies responsible for changing cally forbidding the correction of gender documents such as birth certificates or designations on birth certificates for GENDER” driver’s licenses do still require proof of transgender people. Other states, such as In March 2012, a federal court in surgery, but there is a trend toward recog- Idaho and Ohio, prohibit it through either Alaska became the first to rule nizing that this requirement is burdensome court decision or agency practice. A court that the absence of a process to and creates an unfair barrier for most trans- in Puerto Rico recently ruled that gender change a person’s gender marker gender people. markers can under no circumstance be on a driver’s license to match The American Medical Association changed on identity documents. one’s “lived gender expression (AMA), the nation’s largest physician To find out about the law where you live, or identity” infringes on a organization, called in 2014 for “modern- check out Lambda Legal’s “Changing Birth person’s constitutional right to izing” birth certificate policies by elimi- Certificate Sex Designations: State-By-State privacy because it threatens the nating surgery requirements. Guidelines” list at lambdalegal.org/know- disclosure of personal medical The U.S. government is gradually falling your-rights/transgender/changing-birth- information. The court ordered into line. On June 9, 2010, the State certificate-sex-designations. the Alaska Division of Motor Department stopped requiring proof of Q: How do I change the gender on my Vehicles to come up with a new surgery for issuing passports and consular driver’s license? policy that allows for gender birth certificates to transgender people A: These rules differ from state to state as marker change.2 and began asking instead for proof of well. Departments of Motor Vehicles in Among other key legal “appropriate clinical treatment for gender about half the states have removed surgical efforts to get IDs to reflect transition to the new gender”—better requirements completely for those applying lived gender is the effort by reflecting the individualized nature of to change their gender marker on their advocates to remove outdated treatment for gender transition. Since driver’s licenses. One increasingly accepted surgery requirements for then, the Social Security Administration, way to simplify gender marker changes on gender marker changes on birth Department of Homeland Security, driver’s licenses is to fill out a standardized certificates. Lambda Legal and Veteran’s Health Administration and Office form; neither legal nor medical approvals other advocates pushed New of Personnel Management have followed are required. At the Washington, D.C. York State to lift its surgery suit and no longer require proof of surgery Department of Motor Vehicles, where this requirement with great success, to obtain gender designation changes. new system is in place, the applicant fills and now New York City also has Q: How do I change the gender on my out the top half of the form and the health changed its policy and stopped birth certificate? or social service professional fills out the requiring surgical treatment. A: Birth certificates are generally harder to bottom half. Forms helps applicants avoid change than other documents; the standard the subjective determination of specific 2. K.L. v. State, No. 3AN–11–05431 C, 2012 WL 2685183 (Alaska Sup. Ct. Mar. 12, of proof is higher because it’s a so-called clerks who may not know the legal specifics 2012). vital record, considered “official” by or may have prejudices of their own. government and private agencies alike. Many of the 57 state, local and territorial Q: Do I have to go to court to get my jurisdictions that administer birth certifi- gender changed on my ID? cates require a court order to change or A: Some states and agencies do require amend them (a costly and time-consuming that you obtain a court order to make the process of petitioning a judge for an order change on your documents. This can create stating that you are now male or female) an extra and unnecessary hurdle for some and/or a letter from a surgeon certifying people who can’t afford an attorney or to gender-affirming surgery. California, the pay court fees, but in fact it can be helpful District of Columbia, Iowa, New York City, to have an official judgment in hand if New York State, Oregon, Vermont and your gender identity is being questioned by Washington State have removed surgical someone in a position of authority. TRANSGENDER RIGHTS TOOLKIT www.lambdalegal.org/trans-toolkit IDENTITY DOCUMENTS 19 When I was able to get a driver’s license with a new name and gender, there was definitely a psychological affirmation that yes, this is who I am, this is what I look like. —ANAND KALRA Q: What about changing my name on that challenged a New York City civil ID documents—does it matter? court judge’s requirement that transgender PRIVACY A: Documenting a name change may be an people show “medical need” for their name YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY irrelevant detail for some people—whether changes. In striking down the requirement, NUMBER MAY REVEAL transgender or not, you just call yourself an appellate court stated, “there is no sound YOUR TRANSGENDER what you like and don’t worry about what basis in law or policy” to make transgender government records say. But taking on a petitioners share private medical infor- STATUS 3 new name is very often the first step in a mation just to change their names. One federal agency that is not person’s transition, a concrete signpost that Transgender residents of New York State up to speed on transgender they are beginning to live in accordance seeking to change their names can get free issues is the Social Security with their gender identity.